It wasn’t all sunshine, lollipops for Cowboys on Monday night

ARLINGTON – The Cowboys left AT&T Stadium thrilled with their 36-31 victory over the Giants, but it won’t all be sunshine and lollipops in the club’s meeting rooms Monday.

Dallas had a plus-5 turnover differential after forcing six turnovers, but it only won by 5 points. According to ESPN, since 2004 in the NFL, the average margin of victory when a team finishes with a plus-5 turnover differential is 21 points.

One area of concern is the offense’s inability to capitalize on the turnovers. Dallas’ first three possessions started after New York turnovers, but the Cowboys managed to score just 3 points.

“I don’t think we did a good enough job cashing in on the opportunities early,” coach Jason Garrett said. “We got three good opportunities from takeaways, but we didn’t cash in.”

On the other side of the ball, Dallas allowed Eli Manning to pass for 450 yards. The Giants had completions of 70, 57, 26 and 23 yards and Victor Cruz finished with three touchdown catches.

Despite their injuries up front, the Cowboys put heat on Manning, sacking him three times. But there were busts in the secondary, which will have to be addressed with games against Denver’s Peyton Manning, Detroit’s Matthew Stafford, New Orleans’ Drew Brees and Chicago’s Jay Cutler looming.